Eredar
:This article is about general eredar history. For the leaders of the Burning Legion, see man'ari eredar. For the renegades who escaped with the aid of the naaru (and any of their subsequent sub-species), see draenei. The eredar were a race of supremely talented magic-wielders who arose on the planet Argus countless millennia ago. They built a vast civilization of wondrous cities and a peaceful way of life on the planet. 25,000 years ago though, the tranquility of Argus was shattered. History , an example of an original eredar.]] The dark titan Sargeras, in order to create a great Legion, planned to bolster his ranks by creating demons.http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/encyclopedia/346.xml He was attracted by the eredar's magical affinity, and contacted them, promising their three leaders, Archimonde, Kil'jaeden, and Velen, immortality and vast powers. Despite Velen's misgivings, Archimonde and Kil'jaeden agreed to join Sargeras' Burning Legion. The eredar were the first sentient race to pledge their allegiance to Sargeras. Knowing that other sentient beings would inevitably join the Legion, the eredar declared that their primary language, Eredun, would be the Legion's common language. With his fellow eredar already becoming corrupted by demonic power, Velen split from the man'ari — who were now a "twisted demonic reflection of" the original eredar — on ArgusQuest:What Argus Means to Me with the help of the naaru, renaming themselves the draenei ("exiled ones" in Eredun). The man'ari continued to call themselves "eredar"Quest:What Argus Means to Me under Kil'jaeden and were infuriated with what they perceived as a betrayal. They hunted Velen and the draenei across dozens of worlds for thousands of years. Every time it seemed that the draenei had found a new home, the Burning Legion would fall upon them. The indigenous races of many worlds were oftentimes mutated by the eredar's malevolent warlock powers and turned into demons themselves. Both factions continued to use the Eredun language, though specific dialects have evolved. The draenei traveled through most of the cosmos and eventually discovered another, safer world to settle down upon. They named this world Draenor or "exiles' refuge". At first there was peace with the native orcs living there, and they struck up trade and diplomacy with the shamanistic race. But soon the draenei's existence there was discovered by the evil eredar. The eredar then began to corrupt the orcs and turned them into a war-like race by granting them access to warlock magics. The orcs subsequently hunted down the draenei, almost wiping out the entire race. It is unclear what exactly became of the eredar home world of Argus. Some believe that the demons devoured their own world by using radical warlock magics, though information recently offered by the draenei suggest Sargeras was responsible for the planet's destruction. It is possible that the planet was not actually destroyed, but simply stripped of life, in which case it would be a major stronghold of the Legion. The eredar consumed all life around them and set out to find more places of mystical power. Eredar warlocks are now counted as some of the greatest sorcerers in the universe, and two of their number, Archimonde and Kil'jaeden, are almost as feared as Sargeras. It is suggested that the eredar were the first race to discover and master magic, barring the titans. They are referred to as "one of the oldest known races in the universe",http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/bestiary.html so long-ago mastery of magic is nowhere near implausible. Other accounts According to the existing lore it is said that most, if not all demons (including the eredar), were mortal once, but have been transformed into demons by corruption caused by Fel Energy. This change included a powerful command of arcane energy. This possibility was presented by Sargeras himself, which might point to the ultimate truth. It is said that Sargeras believed that the demons originally were not corrupt, and that it was the Titan's ordering of the universe that was ultimately responsible for the demons corruption. In this scenario, it would imply that the titans considered the various natural races that pre-existed on worlds they visited to be demons (either because they had societies based on the use of arcane magic, or tried to defend themselves from the invading titans). The titans including Sargeras battled them, and locked them up and took over their worlds. Sargeras later came back and freed many of them, bent on using them to destroy the Titan's work. However, another legend states that Sargeras never actually battled any demons before going mad, and was the one that actually created them from mortals in the first place. Some of the other legends for the eredar include; From Warcraft III manual; Over the eons, Sargeras encountered two powerful demonic races, both of which were bent on gaining power and dominance over the physical universe. The eredar, an insidious race of devilish sorcerers, used their warlock magics to enslave a number of worlds that they had invaded. The indigenous races of those worlds were mutated by the eredar’s chaotic powers and turned into demons themselves. Though Sargeras’ nearly limitless powers were more than enough to defeat the vile eredar, he was greatly troubled by the creatures’ corruption and all-consuming evil. Unable to fathom such depravity and spite, the great Titan slipped into a brooding depression. Despite his growing unease, Sargeras sought to rid the universe of the warlocks for all time, by trapping them within a vacuous corner of the Twisting Nether. In his madness, Sargeras shattered the prisons of the Eredar and the nathrezim and set the vile demons free. The cunning demons, bowing before the dark Titan’s vast rage and power, offered themselves to him and swore to serve him in whatever malicious way they could. From the ranks of the powerful eredar, Sargeras chose two champions to lead his demonic army of destruction. Lore from WorldofWarcraft.com; From Chapter I: Mythos; :Though Sargeras's nearly limitless powers were more than enough to defeat the vile eredar, he was greatly troubled by the creatures' corruption and all-consuming evil. Incapable of fathoming such depravity, the great Titan began to slip into a brooding depression. Despite his growing unease, Sargeras rid the universe of the warlocks by trapping them within a corner of the Twisting Nether. :''In his fury, Sargeras shattered the prisons of the eredar and the nathrezim and set the loathsome demons free. These cunning creatures bowed before the dark Titan's vast rage and offered to serve him in whatever malicious ways they could. From the ranks of the powerful eredar, Sargeras picked two champions to command his demonic army of destruction. Kil'jaeden the Deceiver was chosen to seek out the darkest races in the universe and recruit them into Sargeras's ranks. The second champion, Archimonde the Defiler, was chosen to lead Sargeras's vast armies into battle against any who might resist the Titan's will. From Manual of Monsters; First among the demons of the Burning Legion are the eredar. This creature is of impressive size, far larger than any human or orc, with a bulky muscular body and a long tail. Long pointed ears sweep back from its bestial face and horns sprout from its wide brow. In the Twisting Nether, only the titans have ever challenged them. Two eredar, exalted by Sargeras’ power as well as their own, stood as the lords of their race: Archimonde the Defiler and Kil’jaeden the Deceiver. Each built a hierarchy of demons, jealously protected from the will of the other. These groups strove for dominance of Azeroth and even other worlds. But now, at long last, Archimonde is dead, killed by the heroes of Azeroth. Individual eredar and a few hopeful heroes of the lesser races have decided that they are the best candidates to replace him. These prideful few have taken their first careful steps toward locating and eliminating the presumptuous competition that might seek to displace them. Eredar were supreme sorcerers at the dawn of the universe. Some believe that they devoured their own world by using radical warlock magics. They consumed all life around them and set out to find more places of mystical power. The eredar were Sargeras's first recruits in the Burning Legion, serving as tactical advisors and intelligence officers. Eredar warlocks are now counted as some of the greatest sorcerers in the universe. Preeminence in eredar warlock society depends almost entirely upon magical power. Those who command the greatest selection of paramount spells - and thus in theory the greatest magical arsenal - rise to higher ranks. Those whose arcane abilities top out at such pitiful cantrips as wish and shapechange are grunts and lackeys, scarcely worthy of notice. Eredar warlocks are spellcasters first. They have been known to flick their fingers in an enemy's direction, causing flesh, bone, and even steel to flare with entropic fire. They avoid combat with even an innocuous foe until they can establish a collection of defensive and self-enhancement spells. Most maintain a mage armor or frost armor effect continuously. If the enemy seems weak and not worth the expenditure of spells, eredar warlocks wade into combat with their claws. If the enemy is strong, an eredar warlock creates an advantage of numbers, summoning monsters, enchanting his opponents, and using spells that divide his enemies. Another possibility is that the eredar were evil to begin with and that it was only after Velen's vision that a faction within the eredar started to seek salvation from the naaru. Eredar racial tree speculation The exact racial history of the eredar is not clear. Some believe that both Lost Ones and Broken diverged directly from the draenei along separate divergent paths. Akama's tribe appears to have gone from the Lost Ones style (depiction in The Frozen Throne) to the Broken style (appearing in The Burning Crusade) from further corruption under Illidan, although this could simply be a biology retcon. Additionally, artwork posted by Blizzard, simply called "drae", implies that it may be possible for draenei to mutate into Broken, and then mutate to Lost Ones — the Broken do look more like draenei than Lost Ones. The demonic (man'ari) eredar of the Burning Legion have developed into at least two separate forms — the spellcasters, who physically resemble the original race more closely, and the wrathguard eredar. It is unclear if the ered'ruin, and possibly fiends, have also diverged from the original eredar. Factions , an example of a transformed eredar.]] Burning Legion (man'ari eredar):''' *Eredar spellcasters (Eredar warlocks, Eredar diabolists, Eredar sorcerors) *Wrathguard eredar Uncorrupted eredar: *Draenei eredar Draenei sub-species/tribes (mutated from draenei): *The Broken draenei - Major mutation, though still appearing similar to original draenei; most are members of Akama's tribe, "The Broken", but a few are employed by Velen's uncorrupted faction. *Draenei Lost Ones - Major mutation, bearing almost no resemblance to the original draenei, though looking similar to the Broken; The tribe known as the "Lost Ones" is found in Fallow Sanctuary. *Misc. tribes :Kurenai, Daggerfen, Murkblood Notable eredar Though many eredar were part of both invasions of Azeroth (the War of the Ancients and the Third War) and several more inhabit Outland, few individuals are known to mortals; only three, the greatest in magic, were commonly known: the Defiler, the Deceiver, and the Divine. However, with the arrival of the draenei and tentative contact with Outland, a few more have made themselves known. References Category:Game terms Category:Eredar Category:Lore Category:Argus